1998 is, easily, the greatest year that we have covered doing these lists. Parasite Eve, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Xenogears, Pokemon Red & Blue and Grim Fandango were all released – and none of them made the list, which should tell you something about how badass 1998 was.
Nintendo released both the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Camera – which in hindsight was a colossal piece of junk, but at the time it was awesome. Japan was given SEGA’s last console, the Dreamcast, and SNK released the Neo Geo Pocket.
Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid won the first ever Game Critics Awards for “Best PC Game†and “Best Console Game†at E3, the last year E3 was to be held in Atlanta, Georgia.
In non-gaming related news from 1998, Titanic won 11 Academy Awards, Viagra went on sale in the Unted States, Microsoft gets sued for monopolization and then releases Windows 98, Mark McGuire broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record – a record he holds to this day (you hear that, Barry? You ‘roid junkie), and the world said goodbye to Sonny Bono, Phil Hartman, Flip Wilson and the creator of Batman, Bob Kane.
And as always, if you’re new to this series be sure to take a peek at our previous lists, and tell JW how much of a flaming douche he is for having the gall to talk bad about Star Wars in any way:
Top Ten Games of 1996
Top Ten Games of 1995
Top Ten Games of 1994
Top Ten Games of 1993
Top Ten Games of 1992
Top Ten Games of 1991
Top Ten Games of 1990
Before they became a laughing stock thanks to Lair and the way they reacted to the negative reviews of it, Factor 5 was known primarily for their series of awesome flight simulators based in the Star Wars universe. The first of these games, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, was released in the United States on December 7th, 1998 and allowed avid Star Wars fanatics the chance to finally live out their dream of piloting Luke’s X-Wing down the Death Star trench, or taking the Millennium Falcon for a spin, in full 3D.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron played like any other flight simulator that was making its appearance on consoles. Using the N64 Analog Stick (or flight stick, if you had it on PC), you piloted X-Wings, A-Wings, Y-Wings, Snowspeeders, and the brand new V-Wing. You could unlock other ships to pilot, including a TIE Interceptor, the Millennium Falcon, an AT-ST “chicken walkerâ€, and a 1969 Buick Electra.
No, you didn’t misread that. You can pilot a Buick. It handles like and shares all the stats of a V-Wing, but it looks like a 1969 Buick Electra.
Another secret vehicle that wasn’t unveiled until months after the games initial release was the Naboo N-1 Starfighter, which first debuted in Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Factor 5 had included the vehicle in the game with intention of releasing the codes to unlock the vehicle once the movie reached theaters.
Because Factor 5 had spent so much time working on the engine that the game ran on, they had very little time to actually build the game itself. As a result, the final product has a difficulty curve that is a little less than forgiving. But even with that, the game was still massively popular and brilliantly designed. Enough so that two years later, Star Wars: Battle for Naboo would be released on the N64 and PC, and a proper Rogue Squadron sequel (and its sequel) would find homes on the Nintendo GameCube.
It’s been some 80 years since the ending of the original Fallout (#3, 1997) and the dwellers of Arroyo have come to you, The Chosen One, descendant of the Vault Dweller, to help them in their time of need.
The core gameplay of Fallout 2 is almost identical to that of the original Fallout. However, there were some key differences that made Fallout 2 stand above the competition – and it’s prequel. There were far more items for the player to acquire throughout the game, and an added emphasis was placed on scavenging items as the prices for many essential items were increased drastically. Another key difference was with the skill sets. In Fallout 2, the skills start at lower rates than in the first game. Also, unlike the original, you actually get to use the damn things fairly regularly.
Just like Fallout, the sequel had its share of Easter eggs and hidden gags for those of us who would be considered “nerdsâ€. For instance, if you know where to look you will be able to find the Guardian of Forever from the Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever†(the best TOS episode, by the way). Going through the portal takes you to Vault 13 from the original Fallout, where you can pick up a solar-powered energy pistol that acts an awful lot like a TOS-style phaser. Later on in the game you can run across a crashed TOS-style shuttlecraft (complete with dead red shirts), have the chance to recruit Doctor Who’s K-9 into your party, come across a few boxes of Cheesy Poofs, and of course, in New Reno, you can actually find a giant painted Easter Egg.
Oh, and according to Fallout 2, in the mid 23rd century, Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan is apparently the ruler of Earth, because his mug is freaking everywhere.
Dungeons & Dragons is cool. There is no disputing this, it is absolute fact. If you’ve never played D&D, you’re missing out. If you don’t like D&D, you suck. If you started playing D&D just recently, with either 3rd or 4th edition rules, I pity you because you have never had the chance to play with the true and total greatness that is AD&D 2nd Edition.
Unless you’ve played Baldur’s Gate.
Baldur’s Gate is one of the first games to come out of BioWare studios, and some decade later is still widely considered by PC gaming purists to be one of the best single-player RPGs to ever grace a PC. As mentioned earlier, the game uses a modified version of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rule set, By “modifiedâ€, I simply mean that the rules were altered to allow the game to run in real-time rather than in some form of turn-based fashion. Other than that, you are getting a full, true AD&D experience in a video game.
The original Baldur’s Gate had an incredible impact on the industry as a whole. In addition to (re)legitimizing the computer RPG genre that games like Diablo had begun to popularize, the game spawned a direct sequel and a spin-off series, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. The spin-off series played much like the classic dungeon-crawler, and was much more action-oriented than its PC brother.
In addition to the Baldur’s Gate series, BioWare would become well known for games such as Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect. However, many a fanboy still holds out hope that, if nothing else, we will see a “spiritual successor†to the game that put BioWare on the map. And who knows: Maybe Dragon Age: Origin is that game.
There are vew few singular moments in video games that are immediately remembered in the minds of gamers. One of the earliest of these moments is from the original Unreal. When you exit your ship for the first time and are greeted with the expansive world of Na Pali, most PC gamers had to take a moment to take in the scenery. Sure, by todays standards Unreal looks like shit on a stick, but back in 1998 it was awe inspiring. The environments were massive and the world was vibrant and colorful, populated with small woodland creatures that gave the player a sense of immersion that had never been previously seen in a game.
In addition to the breathtaking graphics, Unreal was highly touted by the gaming press of the day (i.e. not us) for its exceptional gameplay and rather impressive enemy AI. Unlike other FPS titles of the day which had you mowing down just about everything in your path with little to no resistance so long as you knew how to strafe, Unreal demanded that you not suck. Enemies would dodge your fire, some enemies would actually play dead, and at long last headshots actually mattered, furthering the widely held belief that when you shoot something in the head, it should hurt.
Unreal spawned two spin-off franchises (Unreal Tournament and Unreal Championshio), and became the launching pad for Epic Games to start marketing their Unreal Engine. This may not sound like something of great importance for people outside of Epic Games, but when you consider that in 2007 alone the Unreal Engine powered games like Mass Effect, BioShock, Stranglehold, and Unreal Tournament 3 (duh), you can see just how important Unreal has been for the industry.
Unless you’re id Software. Then you may hate Epic Games.
Tekken 3 is the embodiment of everything that is right with arcade fighters. The first game in the series to give players the third axis (side-stepping in or out of the background), Tekken 3 saw a great many things change for the franchise. For example, in Tekken 3 jumping wasn’t so over-the-top, allowing for easier and more manageable midair combat. Another key change made for Tekken 3 was an improved combat engine that allowed for much easier recoveries from knockdown moves, and much easier combo juggling.
One of the biggest changes, though, was with the roster. Fifteen new characters were featured in Tekken 3. Some of them, like Jin Kazama, Hwoarang, Eddy Gordo and Ling Xiaoyu, would become mainstays.
Also, if you use Eddy you’re a bitch. But I digress.
The PlayStation port is obviously inferior to the Arcade original. The fully 3D backgrounds in the Arcade were turned into 2D backdrops on the PSOne, and the number of polygons were significantly reduced.
Try playing Tekken 3 on the bleemcast!, if you can find one. If you don’t know what bleemcast! is, check back to BG from time to time as we’ll soon be doing a piece about it. Suffice to say, though, it made playing PSOne games much, much easier on the eyes.
Resident Evil 2 commercial directed by George Romero
A little more than a month after the events of the original Resident Evil, the T-Virus has spread to Raccoon City, infecting her citizens and driving the entire metropolis into chaos. In the middle of all the insanity is Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield (and Jill Valentine, but that’s not this game), fighting their way through the hordes of the undead as they try desperately to escape the doomed city.
RE2 played almost identically to its predecessor, with you controlling a 3D character against a pre-rendered environment. However, the game was broken up into two separate scenarios. At the beginning of RE2, you pick either Leon S. Kennedy, the pretty boy rookie police officer who is reporting to his first day as a member of the RPD, or as Claire Redfield, the sister of Chris. After you complete the first scenario (“A†Game) as the character you choose, you play through the “B†game as the other character. Other than the character you play as, though, the scenarios are more or less unchanged. Scenario “A†has you discovering the truth of the T-Virus and fighting a mutated William Birkin. “B†Game has you fighting a B.O.W. known only as “Mr. Xâ€.
RE2 was also much more visually stunning than the original. The city setting naturally allowed for more detail to shine through, and for the time the game did push the PSOne hardware. The full-motion video cutscenes were also greatly improved from the original.
It is common knowledge that Capcom was working on a version of Resident Evil 2 that became known by fans as Resident Evil 1.5. At one point, Resident Evil 1.5 was so far along that several gameplay videos have popped up over the years. Ultimately the team working on the game scrapped the project and started from scratch.
Rumors began to swirl in the end of August that a remake of Resident Evil 2, done in the same style as Resident Evil on the GameCube, would be coming to the Nintendo Wii. While many fans take this with a grain of salt, when you consider that Resident Evil 2, in one form or another, has appeared on the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStation 3 (in Japan), PlayStation Portable (in Japan) and Game.com, the idea of another port/remake isn’t nearly as absurd as you’d think.
By the time Blizzard Entertainment dropped StarCraft on the world, they had already been well known for their highly successful Warcraft games. Gamers who had been excited to get their hands on Blizzard’s latest outing expected Warcraft, but only in space. But what they wound up getting instead was a completely new game that took everything that fans of real-time strategies loved, tore them to tiny bits, and rebuilt them.
Only better.
Each of the three playable races (Terran, Zerg, Protoss) had their own unique way of play. Terrans were the most balanced of the three species. Playing as the Zerg forced players to rely on superior numbers and the Protoss required precision in building defenses while the long, drawn out process of researching new technologies and building warriors commenced. No matter which race you played as, the enemy AI would progressively get smarter and smarter, making the game more difficult for the player.
When Blizzard announced that after ten years we’d soon be seeing a proper sequel to StarCraft, gamers across the world rejoiced. Except for South Korea, who didn’t hear about the announcement for a full three days after the fact because they were all too busy still playing StarCraft. Yes, even now, ten years after the fact, StarCraft is still immensely popular. In South Korea, the worlds top StarCraft players are treated with the same media spotlight that movie stars get in the United States, and StarCraft matches are televised on national television.
If your computer can’t run StarCraft because you are caught in a time vortex and are looking at this webpage on a Gateway E-3110 or something of that sort, you could also pick up StarCraft 64 on the Nintendo 64. You know, just in case.
I remember the first time I played through the original Half-Life. For the first ten minutes, all I could think was “damn, this has got to be the most boring ass shooter I have ever playedâ€. Little did I know at the time (being 11, and all), but that was just building up the suspense and atmosphere as you witnessed every moment of the game as the protagonist, Gordon Freeman.
Once you started getting into the combat and the level exploration, that is when Half-Life really shined. In addition to the standard array of handguns, shotguns, submachine guns and things that go ka-blooey, gamers were given the single most genre-defining weapon in the history of all shooters: the crowbar. Oh, sure, the crowbar seemed like a completely purposeless weapon when you first got it, but as the game progressed and you found that ammunition was getting more and more scarce, that little guy quickly became your best friend.
Half-Life was an immediate hit with critics and fans alike. The game won over 50 Game of the Year awards, and has sold well over eight million units – we say “well over†because the latest numbers we could find were from 2005. In 2008 the game was awarded the Guinness World Record for “Best-Selling First-Person Shooter of All Time (PC)†and, as of the date of publish, carries a Metacritic score of 96.
In 2001 Half-Life was ported to the PlayStation 2 by Gearbox Software, and that same port was slated to come to the Sega Dreamcast because “changing market conditions†prompted its cancellation. However, PC gamers did get the chance to play through the content that was destined for the Sega Dreamcast when Half-Life: Blue Shift was released as an expansion pack in 2001.
Valve also released a quasi-remake of the original game using the Half-Life 2 Source engine, called Half-Life: Source. While the idea sounds awesome at first, when you consider that the game plays as little more than an ultra high-res port of the original game it becomes less of an exciting prospect. However, it is still a most excellent game, and well worth anyone’s time.
Before we explain why Metal Gear Solid is the [second] best game of 1998, let’s get something out of the way right now: The game was originally meant to be Metal Gear 3, and it was originally slated for the 3DO. Thankfully, Kojima and the guys at Konami saw that the 3DO was a sinking ship, and quickly decided that moving the game to the PlayStation would be a prudent course of action. Along the way, Kojima also made the decision to rename the game since he felt that not too many people would know about the Metal Gear franchise. So, if you really think about it, everybody who was getting all excited about Metal Gear Solid 4 (JW included) was actually getting excited about Metal Gear 6.
Now, rather than try to break down the incredibly convoluted story (something that remains in all the MGS sequels), I’ll simply get to what made MGS different, and revolutionary: Stealth. Oh, sure. Stealth gameplay has been around since the original Metal Gear on the MSX2, but when you add in the 3rd Dimension that gave players the ability to hang over balconies and shimmy along ledges, you have the formula for a whole new genre of games.
Of course, everybody who has ever picked up their controller and plowed their way through this one remembers the epic showdown with Psycho Mantis. Not only did he read your mind memory card and remind you that you needed to finish Castlevania, but in order to defeat him you had to physically unplug your controller from Port One, and into Port Two.
It should be noted that if you try that in Metal Gear Solid 4, you will be chastised accordingly. Dumbass.
The endearing popularity of the franchise is hard to match. In addition to an “expanded version†and a full-blown remake in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for the Nintendo GameCube, Metal Gear Solid has seen itself turned into a comic book series, a radio drama, a novelization and (soon) a feature film. As of October 27th, 2008, the writer is rumored to be Ultraviolet scribe Kurt Wimmer. An odd choice, considering David Hayter has written screenplays for X-Men, X2: X-Men United, The Scorpion King and Lost Planet.
Oh, and he’s the freaking voice of Solid Snake. So maybe he’d know something about the franchise. Either way, this is why Metal Gear Solid is the best game of 1998…
…oh, wait. There is one more that I almost forgot…
Considered by many to be the greatest video game of all time, there is simply no justification for placing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time at any position other than #1. We’ve all played it, I’m sure. If you haven’t, then you need to stop reading this, close your internet browser, boot up your Wii and go download it off the Virtual Console right now.
Ocarina of Time actually runs on the same game engine that another huge Nintendo game, Super Mario 64, was built on. However, due to all of the modifications the development team implemented with OoT, lead designer Shigeru Miyamoto considers them to be independent of each other. One of the key changes in the game engine involved the games camera system. In Super Mario 64 the player had control of the camera by using the C-buttons. In OoT, the camera was entirely computer controlled.
Now, if you had pre-ordered Ocarina of Time way back when, you probably wound up taking home a golden cartridge. In it, Ganondorf bled red, whereas in later releases he bled green. Sure, that doesn’t mean anything at all, but it seemed like a pretty nifty little factoid.
Ocarina of Time was eventually re-released on the Nintendo GameCube as part of a promotion for the highly undervalued The Wind Waker. While the emulation was slightly off, with a few audio hiccups and some slowdown at certain points, the game used much better textures and played at a higher resolution.
It may have been hinted at in the beginning of this piece, but The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is arguably the greatest game of all time. It has won countless awards, been named to dozens of Greatest Game lists, was called “flawless†by the infamous hard ass Jeff Gerstmann, and as of October 28th, 2008, it holds a Metacritic score of 99 out of 100.
In short: It is freaking perfect.
Worst Game of 1998:
Star Trek: Starship Creator
In our 1996 piece, I mentioned that Star Trek Borg was barely a video game. Well, when I had written that I must have forgotten about Star Trek: Starship Creator, because not only is this a complete waste of everybody’s time, but it’s a glorified screensaver.
First of all, I don’t trust any game that runs on flash, but still insists that you buy it on and run it off of a CD. But I can forgive that if the game itself is any good (read: The Political Machine). However, not only is Star Trek: Starship Creator not any good, but it may very well be the worst thing ever put on CD.
And I bought Shaquille O’Neal’s rap album. Yeah, go on. Have a good laugh.
So what makes Starship Creator so terrible? Well, out of the gate you create your Admiral (which really is just naming a profile) and select which class of Starship you want to build. Those of you who are well versed with Trek tech already know many of the more familiar Starship classes, and those of you who aren’t would probably just pick one that looked like the USS Enterprise. Once you have your ship class picked, you can select one of four or five designs for the saucer, the nacelles and the hull, and then outfit your ship with the most sophisticated ship systems and crew.
And that’s it. Once you get pick your mission and click “Beginâ€, you may as well go watch a pot of coffee brew because it’s going to be a while before the game needs you again.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: Somehow, someway, the developers found a way to make the game crash – even though it runs on freaking Flash.
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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was boring in my book.
FF7 was much better and more fun.
I like both but they’re really quite different,one is a beautifuly concieved tech masterpeice the other is a card game with thought provoking story and beautiful’fmv’.
Final Fantasy ANYTHING doesn’t compare to OOT.
Also, had no clue about the red changed to green blood thing (because I have the gold cartridge!)
Also also, … you must play the game on either a gamecube or actual N64, the Wii virtual console version doesn’t have the rumble feature.. which actually had a use in the game (finding skulltulas)
No Grim Fandango means this list is Phail ,sorry.
I still sleep with a crowbar under my bed because of Half-Life.
Pokemon Red & Blue (Green for Japan) were possibly the two most influential games ever to be created in the history of this planet. They sparked a worldwide phenomenon that lead to a multi – billion dollar industry publishing not just games (The greatest RPG games EVER made, i don’t care how good Final Fantasy VII was) but Cartoons, Movies, Trading Cards, T – Shirts, Toys….everything! Pokemon Red & Blue should have taken their rightful spot at the top of this list…..heck they should have a list all to themselves because they’re in a different league to the rest of the games up there (Barr MGS maybe).
I’m sorry but if the writer of this article didn’t give Pokemon Red & Blue the top spot on this list, let alone a place on the list AT ALL…….then they obviously don’t know anything about videogames.
When you make a list like this, you’re obviously not going to make everybody happy. However, based on the criteria that you have listed that should have been considered when I put the list together, one could argue that “Yu-Gi-Oh” s one of the best games of all time.
You see how silly that sounds? No doubt Pokemon is good — damn good for its time. But there is no way on Earth I would put it ahead of any of the games on this list.
Well you could have replaced the Resident Evil game with at least one of the Pokemans
“However, based on the criteria that you have listed that should have been considered when I put the list together, one could argue that “Yu-Gi-Oh†s one of the best games of all time.”
That argument is wrong for so many reasons, i find it unbelievable just how much people overlook the impact Pokemon red & Blue had on the gaming industry.
The Pokemon videogame franchise is currently the second most successful franchise in the history of this planet (Second only to Mario). With well over 110 million games sold worldwide. That completely blows away every franchise that made your list, it puts Pokemon so far at the top that franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, Gears Of War, Fable, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Zelda, Metal Gear Solid…..even Sonic The Hedgehog look like second – rate games. How many videogames has the Yu – Gi – Oh franchise sold to date? About 3 million??? Do they even still make Yu – Gi – Oh games anymore?
Pokemon red & Blue gave birth to the second most successful videogames franchise in history……..Yu – Gi – Oh didn’t get anywhere near that. In fact…..forgive my ignorance but did Yu – Gi – Oh even start out as a videogame? I thought that franchise was created by a comic book (Manga), which then spawned a videogame….and if that were true then your argument doesn’t have any substance at all.
And even if the franchise was created by a videogame it didn’t make the splash the Pokemon games did…..and it certainly didn’t last even half as long. Try comparing the sales of the latest Yu – Gi – Oh videogame to the sales of Pokemon Platinum……..as far as videogames go the Pokemon franchise is still going strong, Yu – Gi – Oh was nothing but a flash in the pan by comparison.
I think you are giving too much to the legacy that Pokemon has left, which is huge. But the original Red/Blue Pokemon games were in themselves, just an RPG with little story but a huge collect-a-thon.
(note: Believe it or not, I am a huge fan of the original red/blues, it got me to buy a Game Boy for me and my brother so we could trade when I was younger.. but that doesn’t change that the game wasn’t made in a memorable/timeless fashion)
Pokemon is toddler crap. Anyone who things the Pokemon anything should be considered ‘good’ needs to put stop being stupid. Pokemon video games are simplistic, infintile, and boring. “Oh look, they picked a stupid-looking marshmallow that has an ice icon. That means I should pick and stupid-looking baby dragon with a fire icon, and hit the up-C button once about every five minutes while I wait for stupid cinematics to load in-between until it tells me I win.” Are you serious? You really say this tops Resident Evil, Halo, Final Fantasy? Really? OMG…
ROFL get a clue and grow up. That was and is still unknown and the franchise ONLY gained any popularity due to the cartoon and following movies. These also were very poor and rated poor. Jealous much? Feeling confused about your low level of maturity for your age? Feeling enraged that your lame choice as a good game didn’t make the list when it was so obviously a crap work?
Not to despair. You will grow up eventually and look back at this complaint and attempt at trolling to get your favorite game “if you can call it that” on the list (but it will not be reversed as there is no need.) and you will laugh at yourself.
Bottom line you tried to get a lame game you thought was cool in the list by whining and failed. Grow up and get into some real games of real quality and you will find yourself more than often finding lists like these to be on the spot.
yes yes OCARINA OF TIME is really the greaterst game of all time.i even currentlly have it in my wii.thru the zelda collection.i hope the next Zelda would be better than it.Maybe.
i can not belive banjo-kazooie is not on the list
noob,the half-life was game of the year, how cant it take THIRD place?????
Half Life doesn’t compare to Zelda OoT. Metal Gear though, Half Life is definitely better.
I consider OoT to be the best classic-style RPG to ever exist and MGS gave birth to an entire genre of games.
Half-Life, while a personal favorite of mine, was nothing more than a very, very, very good FPS.